Background

The 95-acre Allied Chemical and Ironton Coke site lies on the banks
of the Ohio River near the point where the Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia
borders converge. The facility produced a number of products during its
83-year history including crude tar, coke, light oil, ammonia, creosote,
pitch and naphthalene. The result of operations and waste disposal practices
was extensive contamination of soil and ground water, sediment (mud) in nearby Ice Creek and Ohio River. The site was placed on EPA's National Priorities List
in 1983.

The site actually is made up of three distinct cleanup areas, referred
to as operable units. They are the former tar plant, a former disposal
area for tar plant waste and foundry sand called the Goldcamp Disposal
Area, and the former coke plant and waste lagoons. With the exception
of ground water monitoring and routine maintenance, the Goldcamp Disposal
Area, former coke plant and waste lagoons have been cleaned up. A portion
of the land formerly occupied by the coke plant has been redeveloped
into a maintenance facility for Ohio Department of Transportation. EPA's
second Five-Year Review Report provides
a detailed description of the site, operating history, nature and extent
of contamination, cleanup methods and timeline of the regulatory process.
View the September 2004 Five Year Review Report (PDF)(58pp, 3.0MB About PDF) and Five Year Review Report Appendices (PDF)(47pp, 2.5MB About PDF)

The former tar plant ceased operations in 2000 and demolition began
a year later. Now that the plant is gone, underlying contaminated soil
is being addressed as well as contaminated sediment. In August 2003, EPA and Honeywell International Inc. - the
owner of the property - signed a legal agreement. This "administrative
order" (Administrative
Order on Consent for RI/FS (PDF)(60pp, 92K About PDF) August 2003) calls
for an investigation of the contamination, a study of risks posed to
people and the environment, development of cleanup options, and possible
testing of promising options. Honeywell, under the supervision of EPA
and Ohio EPA, conducted a field investigation in 2005 to evaluate possible cleanup remedies for ground water, sediment, soil and vapor. EPA announced a cleanup decision for the Tar Plant in September 2007.